gillette



(No Model.)

G. W. 8a M. G. GILLETTE.-

FLEXIBLE SHAFTING.

No. 504.720. Patented Sept. 12, 1893.

WiTNESSES:

UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICE.

GEORGE lV. GILLETTE AND MOTT G. GILLETTE, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

FLEXiBLE SHAFTlNG.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 504,720, dated September 12, 1893.

Application filed December 3, 1892. Serial No. 453,919. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, GEORGE W. GILLETTE and MOTT G. GiLLE'rrE, citizens of the United States, residing in the city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Flexible Shafting, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to the character of flexible shafting wherein a rotary chain is incased within a flexibly coiled wire non-rotary tube; and the object of said invention is to provide means for moving the instrument or tool to be operated at abrupt angles to the general line of the shafting without materially increasing the friction incident to the transmission of rotation, and also to provide means for preventing the chain from buckling or becoming slack when the shafting is adjusted for operation.

To these ends the invention consists in a coiled wire case or tube having coils with differential pitch; and also means for impressing the coil longitudinally so as to hold the chain taut after it has been attached to the driving and driven parts to be rotated; the novel characteristics of said invention being hereinafter fully described and claimed.

Referring to the accompanying drawings: Figure l, is a side elevation partly in section, showing the flexible shafting connected to the driving and driven parts ready for operation; Fig. 2, a side elevation partly in section illustrating the iiexible shafting connected at its upper end to the driving part; the coiled wire oase being retracted in a suitable position for attaching the rotary partto be driven. l

A, represents the rotary chain; B, the coiled wire case or tube; C, the rotary driving shaft; andAD, the rotary driven shaft, which, in this instance, comprises the rotary spindle of an animal shearing tool E.

F, is a sleeve permanently affixed to the flexible tube B, and adj ustably affixed to the shank G, supported above, by means of a set screw J.

H, is a collar permanently aiiixed to the opposite extremity of the flexible tube B. The collar H, is adapted to receive and forni an abutment for the tapered shank I, of the tool E, The shafts or spindles C, and D, are rotary but non-movable longitudinally in their Shanks G, and I.

The flexibly coiled wire tube B, is coiled 1n closely wound or abutting convolutions from its extremity a, to an intermediate point, for instance, at b,- from h, to c, the coils are slightly separated at, say, one sixty-fourth of an inch between each convolution for a one and one-eighth inch diameter of coil. From c, to cl, the coils are separated at the greater intervening distance of, say, one thirty-second of an inch between each convolution; and from ci, to c, they are separated at a greater distance of say, one-sixteenth of an inch between eacb convolution. Thus a gradually increasing differential pitch is given to the coil from the point b, to the point e. It is inimaterial at what intermediate point in the length of the coil B, the differentiation cominences, and moreover, the said differentiation may commence at the end a, and increase gradually throughout the length of the coil from end to end.

In connecting the parts for operation, the chain shaft A, is first connected to a rotary shaft or spindle C, while the sleeve F, 1s detached; said chain having been slid so as to project beyond the end of the sleeve. The sleeve F, is then slid upon the shank G, as far as it will go, as indicated in Fig. 2, and temporarily secured. The lower extremity of the chain A, will, in that position, project beyond the end of the collar H, permitting the convenient attachment of the spindle D, of the tool E. The sleeve F, is then slid down as far as it will go, compressing the separated coils at the lower end of the tube B, in a mod crate degree, and sufficiently to draw the chain A, taut, and the set screw J, is then firmly clamped upon the shank G. It will be seen that the shank I forms an abutment for one end of the coiled wire. When the parts are thus adjusted and rotation given to the shaft C, chain A, and spindle D; the separated coils in the tube B, from b, to e, will permit the abrupt bending of the flexible shafting without increasing the tension of the shaft A, as would be the case were the coils closely abutted throughout the length of the shaft from a, to e, as heretofore.

The invention is especially useful in its ap- IOC plication to horse clipping machines, wherein it is required to obtain access to the fet-locks of the horse by cutting upward with the tool E, thus necessarily bringing the lower end of the iiexible shafting in close proximity to the iioor at an abrupt angle, as in Fig. l. In such position the coils at f, may abut or nearly so, while they expand at g, without changing the length 0r the tube as measured in its central axis, therefore, avoiding strain upon the chain A, and adinitting'of its free rotation.

The advantage in employing abutting coils from the Vpoint a, to b, in the ltube B, consists in giving the said tube the necessary firmness in its general structure, while allowing of extreme flexibility at the part where the bending is more specially required. The vtube B, may be furnished with any suitable or usual cover of fabric, as indicated in Fig. l, at K.

The 'herein-described iieXible shafting is adapted for actuating various other tools than that illustrated. Y

Having thus fully described our invention, what we claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

ment, for one end of the coil, and a sleeve F,

and shank G, and means of adjusting the sleeve longitudinally at the other end of the coil, within which VShanks the ieXible shaft- Ving rotates in a longitudinally fixed position,

all substantially as and for the purposes descripepd;

GEORGE lV. GILLETTYE. VMOTT G. GILLETTE.'

Witnesses:

'ALBERT W. HOPKINS,

WALTER G. DARBY. 

